Ancient cultures, such as the Egyptians andRomans had state-imposed forced labor of peasants who were in debt to the government.In pre-Columbian America, the Inca Empire had a system of mandatory public service known as mita, and the Aztec’s had tlacotin.

Spain conquered the New World in the early 1500’s and set up a system called encomienda or repartimiento, which was similar to feudal France’s Corvée “unfree labour.”

Slavery in Cuba began earlier and lasted longer than anywhere else in the Americas.

When indigenous Indians died from harsh treatment and lack of immunity to diseases, Spain replaced them with Africans bought from Muslim slave markets.

Priests like Bartolomé de las Casas, Franciscan Friars, Papal Bulls, and Christian missionaries, such as the Moravians, were a voice of conscience against slavery, but Colonial governments largely ignored them.

A notorious trade triangle developed with Havana, Cuba, at its center: SLAVES from Africa to SUGAR from the Caribbean to RUM in England.

Importation of slaves to the United States ended in 1807, but in 1839, an international incident occurred.

A Portuguese ship from Sierra Leone sold 53 slaves to Spanish Planters on the Cuban shipAmistad.

On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship and demanded to be sailed back to Africa.

Instead, the captain misdirected the ship to Long Island, NY, where the slaves were arrested.

The Amistad Case went to the Supreme Court, with 74-year-old former President, John Quincy Adams, defending the Africans.

Adams stated, “By the blessing of God, I will argue the case before the Supreme Court,” and writing in his journal, October 1840:

“I implore the mercy of God to control my temper, to enlighten my soul, and to give me utterance, that I may prove myself in every respect equal to the task.”

“The moment you come to the Declaration of Independence, that every man has a right to life and liberty, an inalienable right, this case is decided. I ask nothing more in behalf of these unfortunate men than this Declaration.”

In Cuba, a Creole farmer began a revolt in 1868 for racial equality, freedom of speech and freedom of association.

Spain killed thousands putting it down in the Ten Years War.

A Royal decree finally ended slavery in Cuba in 1886.

In 1895, another rebellion began and Spain sent 200,000 soldiers to Cuba.

Tens of thousands were put into concentration camps where they suffered from starvation, disease and exposure.

Yellow Press journalism excited the American public, who demanded President William McKinley intervene.

The U.S.S. Maine was sent to Havana, and on FEBRUARY 15, 1898, it blew up in the harbor under suspicious conditions, beginning the Spanish-American War.

President McKinley approved the Resolution of Congress:

“Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization,

culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battle ship, with 266 of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured…

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives…that the people of the island of Cuba are and of right ought to be free.”

Glen Beck and others have been warning for sometime that violence was coming to this country in the same way that it came to Spain, Egypt and many other places since Barack Obama came to office. The ties to the unions that this government has, along with the ties to communists, socialists, etc. are deep and subversive. We have people like Andy Stern warning us that they were not going to go peacefully into the night and that they had no fear of starting violence anywhere. We see that in every instance where this administration has had a choice of life or death, they have chosen death. Many of us have recognized that the warnings were real and that the probability of violence and riots in this country were coming.

We now they are here! What will be the next step? This administration has given arms to our enemies and publicly stated that they consider those of us who believe in the Constitution to be their enemies. What do you think that there next step will be? Do you really believe that they will just accept the results of the next election and step down? Have we had any evidence that this administration feels bound by the law?

We have them ignoring violence at the polls when it doesn’t affect “their people”, we having them refusing to obey and enforce the laws passed by Congress, we have them arming drug cartels and the Zeta’s whose stated goal is the overthrow of Mexico, and we have them flat out telling us that if we don’t give them what they want, they will just take it!

My friends, we are in deeper trouble than we have ever been in in this country. The prospects for a war for the whole of this country are at hand and the people that are intent on the destruction of this country, do not care how they do it. If it means arming our enemies and opening the doors to them, that is what they intend to do. Please understand that these are desperate people and desperate people do desperate things.

by Whitney Pitcher The Anchorage Daily News shares some good news for oil and gas development in Alaska, due in large part to Governor Palin’s oil tax legislation, ACES (emphasis added): As Southcentral Alaska prepares for an increase in oil and gas exploration and development in the Cook Inlet basin, operators on the North Slope and nearshore Beaufort Sea are preparing for what promises to be one of the busiest exploration seasons since 1969, wh … Read More